Chris Cornell’s Family Writes Father’s Day Tribute to Him

In their first Father's Day since Chris Cornell's death, his wife and his two teenage daughters have written moving testimonials to him. The posts appeared over the past two days on his Facebook page.

"To my sweet love, you are missed so very much," his widow, Vicky, wrote. "Perhaps if you had not been the most amazing daddy always giving all your attention and love it would not be so excruciatingly hard. You gave with all your heart and it makes the void so much more painful. We don't know how to be without you. I'm trying though for you and for our beautiful children. We love you most!"

Lily, his oldest daughter, remembered a recent time they spent together. "A couple summers ago we were biking around Central Park and you told me that there aren’t many truly good people in the world, but that I was one of the few. You always had such firm confidence and pride in what I did, and your warmth and love inspired me to do my best. Now more than ever, I want to live my life to help others as you did. I want to continue to make you proud. Toni, [Christopher] and I promise to survive, persevere and thrive, as we’ve always done. I’m so proud to be your baby, I love you more than words can say and I will miss you forever.

His 12-year-old daughter Toni said, "Let me start by saying how much I love you and how much you mean to me. You are my idol, someone I’ve always looked up to. You were always there for me. You pushed me forward every day, and you still do. ... Every time you came home from tour you spent all your hours with us. No matter how tired you were, how many time zones you traveled, you were there for us."

She also recalled a time when they were staying at a hotel and were looking for a movie to watch together, which introduced her to Prince. “'How about Purple Rain?' you said. I always trusted your judgement. I put it on and immediately fell in love! We then got to your favorite song, ‘The Beautiful Ones.' 'This song is so special it doesn’t even belong in a genre. When I was in my twenties, I saw this in the theatre and some guy started cracking up laughing at this scene and song. It got me really mad,' you said."

Toni concluded with, "I love you and miss you so, Daddy. You deserve your own day to be celebrated because you are the best dad anyone could ever have. Happy Father’s Day!"